By Rick Kardonne | Jewish Tribune

TEL AVIV — Winnipeg-born-and-raised theatre producer-director Howard Rypp’s Nephesh Theatre, which began in Toronto, has, for Tel Aviv’s 100th anniversary, presented two original plays about the Ethiopian-Jewish immigration to Israel, which have already been internationally acknowledged as major contemporary cultural works of great significance.

It Sounds Better in Amharic by Yossi Vassa and Shai ebn Attar, and starring Vassa, traces the personal story of his immigration to Israel and his integration into Israeli society.

The main theme is, as Rypp explains, “the clash of cultures between African culture and Israeli society.” Within Africa, Ethiopia is its own cultural entity: a fusion of a politically independent tradition, an ancient Christian culture and a surprisingly sophisticated modern jazz scene in Addis Ababa. Together with the often dangerous immigration into Israel from being an oppressed Jewish minority within Ethiopia and the normal difficult stresses of immigration into a religiously compatible society within Israel, It Sounds Better in Amharic is a master work on this uniquely Jewish topic.

This play has been performed worldwide. In Canada the English version has been performed four times: at Ashkenaz, Hillel, and, thanks to the well-known Toronto-Tel Aviv-based Jewish philanthropist Nathan Jacobson, to the Somali community in Toronto’s west end.

On May 11, Rachel Manelson, director of Europe, the UK and Canada for the Tel Aviv Foundation, presented It Sounds Better in Amharic to 100 British donors who came in from England to the Inbal Theatre in the Neve Tsedek district of downtown Tel Aviv. This gala event was also sponsored by Jacobson.

In contrast to this one-man show, the large-cast musical, One of a Kind, also written by Vassa and ben-Attar on the general topic of the Ethiopian-Jewish-Israeli experience, with music by Idan Zilbershtein, is being presented in Rehovot on May 18. This show has also toured internationally. Andy Webster of The New York Times termed this musical “impressive – exhilarating – inspirational – with much to offer.” Paulanne Simmons of Curtain Up Magazine defines it as being “filled with compassion and humour: perfect family entertainment.”

One of a Kind was the winner of the Best Play in Israel 2006 and eight other coveted prizes.

Since its inception in Canada in 1978 with the Toronto presentation of Gabriel Emmanuel’s gripping drama Children of Night about Janusz Korczak, the legendary teacher in the Warsaw Ghetto, Nephesh Theatre has been one of the world’s leading showcases of contemporary Jewish theatre. Since moving to Israel from Canada in 1983, Nephesh Theatre has produced dozens of new works, which have received international acclaim, including throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Greece, England and Australia, as well as widespread Israeli exposure.

They continue to maintain a Canadian presence with their coming productions of a dramatized version of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s classic Gimpel the Fool at the Winnipeg and Saskatoon film festivals.

Nephesh receives funding from the Israeli ministry of culture, and the foreign ministry has produced many of its international productions, together with an increasing number of private investors.